Back to school

Brady students are back in full force this week with a bigger high school enrollment number than the district has ever seen.

On Tuesday morning after all the backpacks were tucked away in elementary classrooms and high school students began their fourth day of classes, the numbers fell into place.

The total is 202, four students more than this time last year and more than 70 students higher than a decade ago.

The big change comes in grades 7-12 where there are 113 students. That total is up from 102 a year ago and is almost 20 students more than were enrolled in high school and junior high during the 2006-07 school year.

Because of the increase, the Brady athletic teams will move from a D-2 classification among the state’s smallest schools up to D-1.

Thankfully for the district, the increasing high school number continues to keep enrollment stable because fewer elementary students reported for classes this fall.

There are only 89 students in grades K-6 compared with last year’s total of 96 and 105 for the 2007-08 year.

“We’re going to have to concentrate on finding ways to bring that number up,” superintendent Bill Porter said of elementary enrollment.

State aid is based on total enrollment and official numbers for each district are reported to the Nebraska Department of Education on the last Friday of September.

Porter said a goal of 20 students per classroom is not unreasonable.

“We have to keep this school viable,” he said. “Keeping a steady or increasing enrollment is the only way to do that.”

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